Shellfish

Shellfish, Pacific Northwest

Mussels, Photo By Bud Logan

We are so lucky here on the Pacific Northwest Coast to have such a variety of amazing shellfish. Although, many of the commercial species we have here were introduced from other parts of the world. But I think that they have had little impact on the native shellfish population and have indeed found a nitch here.

Pacific Oysters, Photo By Bud Logan

The ocean waters flowing down the coast from northern climates are rich with nutrients and very cold. This makes the prime areas for shellfish production around the central area of Vancouver Island. The cold waters we have here are necessary for fine flavors of our shellfish. The nutrients that are in this water provide plenty of food for rapid growth.

There are many fresh water shellfish on the BC coast, although most are not edible, they are still very fascinating to study. Made a freshwater mussel chowder and found it to be quite tasty. There is something quite awesome about seeing the variety and abundance of shellfish on Vancouver Island.

Scallop, Photo By Bud Logan

We have the protected Abalone here, very beautiful creature. Then there are the variety of Barnacles that can be found growing alongside the many types of mussels, love seeing the giant species of both. Many different types of clams can be harvested along the entire coast as well as all the outer islands.

Scallops and oysters are both wonderful and they look so awesome. On the west coast beaches they are in abundance, they look so incredible. They are tough to, they must be to survive the west coast winter storms. These storms are amazing and to see how unaffected they are shows one just how well they have adapted to live here.